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.TH GNUPLOT 1 "February 2020"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
gnuplot \- an interactive plotting program
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B gnuplot
[X11 options] [options] [file ...]
.br
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B Gnuplot
is a command-driven interactive plotting program.
.PP
If file names are given on the command line,
gnuplot loads and executes each file in the order specified,
and exits after the last file is processed.
If no files are given, \fBgnuplot\fP prompts for interactive commands.
.PP
Here are some of its features:
.PP
Plots any number of functions, built up of C operators, C math library
functions, and some things C doesn't have like **, sgn(), etc.  
.PP
User-defined constants and functions.
.PP
All computations performed in the complex domain.  Just the real part is
plotted by default, but functions like imag() and abs() and arg() are
available to override this.
.PP
Many presentation styles for plotting user data from files, including
surface-fitting, error bars, boxplots, histograms, heat maps, and simple
manipulation of image data.  There is an on-line demo collection at
.br
.I http://gnuplot.info/demo
.PP
Nonlinear least-squares fitting.
.PP
2D and 3D plots with mouse-controlled zooming, rotation, and hypertext.
.PP
Shell escapes and command line substitution.
.PP
Load and save capability.
.PP
Support for a huge variety of output devices and file formats.
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
\fB\-p, \-\-persist\fP lets plot windows survive after main gnuplot program exits.
.PP
\fB\-c scriptname ARG1 ARG2 ..., load script using gnuplot's "call" mechanism and pass it the remainder of the command line as arguments
.PP
\fB\-d, \-\-default\fP settings.  Do not read from gnuplotrc, ~/.gnuplot, and $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc on entry.
.PP
\fB\-e "command list"\fP executes the requested commands before loading the next input file.
.PP
\fB\-s, \-\-slow\fP wait for slow font initialization rather than continuing with an error.
.PP
\fB\-h, \-\-help\fP print summary of usage
.PP
\fB\-V\fP show current version
.SH X11 OPTIONS
For terminal type x11, \fIgnuplot\fP
accepts the standard X Toolkit options and resources such as geometry, font,
and background. See the X(1) man page for a description of common options.
For additional X options specific to gnuplot, type \fIhelp x11\fP on the
gnuplot command line. These options have no effect on other terminal types.
.SH ENVIRONMENT
A number of shell environment variables are understood by
gnuplot.  None of these are required.
.TP
.B GNUTERM
The name of the terminal type to be used by default.  This can be
overridden by the gnuplotrc, .gnuplot, or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc
start-up files and, of course, by later explicit "set terminal" commands.
.TP
.B GNUHELP 
The pathname of the HELP file (gnuplot.gih).
.TP
.B HOME
The name of a directory to search for a .gnuplot file.
.TP
.B PAGER
An output filter for help messages.
.TP
.B SHELL
The program used for the "shell" command.
.TP
.B FIT_SCRIPT
Specifies a gnuplot command to be executed when a
fit is interrupted---see "help fit".  
.TP
.B FIT_LOG
The name of the logfile maintained by fit.
.TP
.B GNUPLOT_LIB
Additional search directories for data and command files. The variable
may contain a single directory name, or a list of directories
separated by ':'. The contents of GNUPLOT_LIB are appended to the
"loadpath" variable, but not saved with the "save" and "save set"
commands.
.TP
.B GDFONTPATH
Several gnuplot terminal drivers access TrueType fonts via the gd library.
This variable gives the font search path for these drivers.
.TP
.B GNUPLOT_DEFAULT_GDFONT
The default font for the terminal drivers that access TrueType fonts
via the gd library.
.TP
.B GNUPLOT_FONTPATH
The font search path used by the postscript terminal. The format is
the same as for GNUPLOT_LIB. The contents of GNUPLOT_FONTPATH are
appended to the "fontpath" variable, but not saved with the "save" and
"save set" commands.
.TP
.B GNUPLOT_PS_DIR
Used by the postscript driver to locate external prologue
files. Depending on the build process, gnuplot contains either a
builtin copy of those files or simply a default hardcoded path. Use
this variable to test the postscript terminal with custom prologue
files. See "help postscript prologue".
.SH FILES
.TP
.I gnuplotrc
When gnuplot is run, it first looks for a system-wide initialization
file named gnuplotrc.  The standard location of this file expected by
the program is reported by the "show loadpath" command.
.TP
.I .gnuplot
After loading the system-wide initialization file, if any,
Gnuplot looks for a private initialization file in the HOME directory.
It may contain any legal gnuplot commands, but typically they are
limited to setting the preferred terminal and line types
and defining frequently-used functions or variables.
.TP
.I $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/gnuplot/gnuplotrc
After loading the other initialization files, Gnuplot will check if there is a
file named gnuplotrc in the gnuplot subdirectory in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (default
~/.config).  The same restrictions as for .gnuplot apply.
.TP 
.I fit.log
The default name of the logfile output by the "fit" command.
.SH AUTHORS
Original authors: Thomas Williams and Colin Kelley.
Starting with gnuplot version 3.8, the project source is cooperatively
maintained on SourceForge by a large number of contributors.
.SH BUGS
Please report bugs using the project bug tracker on SourceForge.
.SH SEE ALSO
See the printed manual or the on-line help for details on specific commands.
Project web site at http://gnuplot.info
